NORTH Wales is to be the focus of a two year worldwide study of how Welsh people carved out new lives for themselves overseas.

And in a unique move the initiative will be led by an American academic who, inspired by great Welsh literature, decided to learn the language.

For the last four years former Harvard man Jerry Hunter has taught in Bangor university's Welsh department.

The 41-year-old, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be linking up with experts from "home and abroad" to study migrant groups and their experiences of various Welsh organisations.

"We will be mainly looking at the Welsh in the United States and Patagonia but also in Australia and even in London," said Dr Hunter..

"The study will be an expert scrutiny of an unprecedented kind."

Bangor will host four meetings over the next couple of years to discuss "the Welsh overseas" - the first in April.

"They will focus discussion on the role of the Welsh language, religion and of print culture in maintaining a sense of Welsh identity, both in the USA and in Patagonia. They will also look at the inter- action between Welsh migrants' language and culture and that of the host nation," explained Dr Hunter.

"One session will look at the way emigration from Wales has been depicted and appreciated within Wales." Bangor academics with specific areas of expertise will lead individual sessions- Professor Densil Morgan (theology), Professor Margaret Deuchar (linguistics) and Professor Duncan Tanner (history) with support from Dr Bill Jones of the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies.

Dr Hunter, who studied English literature in the States, said: "I knew Wales had great literature and I decided to learn the language.."

Backed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the programme is being organized by the Welsh Institute for Social and Cultural Affairs at Bangor, which will host the sessions.

Three years ago Dr Hunter's book on the Welsh contribution during the American Civil War won the Welsh Arts Council 2004 Book of the Year.